Dems still spending in Illinois

National Democrats are continuing to pump money into the highly competitive Illinois Senate race, at least for one more week.

POLITICO has learned that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has placed a $400,000 ad buy for the second week in a row in Illinois to boost Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias’s bid against Republican Mark Kirk.

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The two consecutive media buys, coupled with President Barack Obama’s announcement last week that he will make a second fundraising stop for Giannoulias in October, indicate the party’s continuing faith that it can keep hold of the seat that Obama vacated in his move to the White House. With almost a dozen Democrat-held seats in play this November, the party has to choose which races will get its financial assistance for the remainder of the campaign.

Nonetheless, national Democrats’ latest investment on Giannoulias’s behalf is less than some of the other ad buys for the Illinois Senate race so far – especially in the pricey Windy City media market. The DSCC has bought $250,000 worth of ad time in Chicago this week, compared to the Kirk campaign’s $470,000 ad buy in the same market last week. Giannoulias’ campaign put up about $450,000 worth of ads in the Chicago market last week.

A spokesman for American Crossroads, the cash-flush independent expenditure supportive of GOP candidates, confirmed it purchased a weeklong ad buy totaling $482,000 statewide last week.

It’s unclear just how long the DSCC will keep purchasing time in Chicago — the committee has only bought ad time through Oct. 4. Media buyers often purchase time only a few days beforehand because Chicago’s media market is so expensive.

DSCC spokesman Jared Leopold declined to comment on the group’s ad purchase, saying it is not the committee’s policy to discuss strategy. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has pledged $3.4 million in coordinated funds on behalf of Kirk’s campaign.

Giannoulias also reported significantly less money in the bank at the end of the last reporting period on June 30. At that time, Giannoulias had a quarter of Kirk’s $3.9 million cash on hand. But Giannoulias’s aides say his campaign war chest has benefited from a fundraising visit in early August from the president that netted $1 million.

Public polls show a tight race, with Kirk holding a small lead in some surveys. The most recent Rasmussen Reports survey from Sept. 21 showed Kirk leading Giannoulias, 44 percent to 41 percent.